Hospital mergers can impact the offer of health care services

Artikel

In the last decades, many European hospital markets witnessed a wave of mergers leading to increased levels of market concentration. The effects of hospital mergers and the effectiveness of competition enforcement have been discussed by politicians but understudied by academics. This report studies how hospital mergers impact hospital service provision by focusing on the French hospital industry from 2009 to 2017. The report finds that local mergers may result in a change in the health care services offered. For example, merging hospitals reduce the offer of duplicate services. The results suggest that competition authorities may want to encompass these strategic reactions in their analysis when deciding ex ante whether or not to approve mergers. These insights are also particularly relevant for the German hospital industry, which operates in a similar regulatory context to the French case.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Journal: DIW Weekly Report ; ISSN: 2568-7697 ; Volume: 11 ; Year: 2021 ; Issue: 33 ; Pages: 239-245 ; Berlin: Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW)

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Single Equation Models; Single Variables: Panel Data Models; Spatio-temporal Models ; Analysis of Health Care Markets ; Antitrust Issues and Policies: General
• Subject: mergers ; industry concentration ; hospital industry

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Herrera-Araujo, Daniel ; Piechucka, Joanna
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW)
• (where): Berlin
• (when): 2021

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.18723/diw_dwr:2021-33-1
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/242048
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET